The next logical step was for her to "reverse engineer" one of her integrations and attempt to build one herself. It turned out absolutely beautiful and made her even more confident in her talent and ability. Somehow the word got out among her friends and clients at Saks Fifth Avenue and it wasn't long before it was like "Janet, make one for me too, please!!" Talk about a snowball going out of control. Clients were beginning to line up and it was almost becoming a bit too much and there just was never enough time to get all the work done. As Fate would have it, at about this time Saks closed the Stanford store. There was this feeling that maybe this was a blessing in disguise. So she took her severence pay, made a Leap of Faith and opened the shop. It was scary at first. We felt way out on a limb. Luckily I had a good job in the roaring high tech industry at the time. There was so much work to do. And Janet did it all. Sorry to say I wasn't much help, working 60 hours a week myself.. A little storefront to whip into shape, business licenses to get, equipment and supplies to buy, advertising, business cards, book keeping, payroll, taxes.. It's not easy starting a business and it took years to really get established and really figure out what we were doing. But she had a loyal and ever growing client base that kept her going. Thank our lucky stars and all of our friends and clients that believed in Janet, believed in this unique' talent of hers and spread the word.. A shout out to all of you.. You are as much a part of our success as we are. And look at us now. The rest, as they say, is history. Who would have guessed?? And the best is yet to come!!

BACK HOME NEXT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, everybody, meet Janet. Founder, owner and inspiration behind Hair Replacement by Janet. Also my wife and soulmate. Janet has been in the fashion, hair and beauty business, in one way or another, her entire life. She graduated from Ponce' College of Beauty in Palo Alto in 1971. She spent many years as a hair stylist and make up artist.. Did a bit of modeling and from 1984 till 1994 worked for Saks Fifth Avenue at the Stanford Shopping Center. This was a very good networking opportunity for her. She made alot of good friends and alot of really loyal customers, some of whom remain our top clients today.
Janet got interested in integrations and such at the tender age of sixteen. Partly as a fashion statement but also because she thought her hair was a bit too fine and a bit too thin for the look she was after. After many years and alot of time and money spent on maintenance and upkeep she decided she could do a better job. Much better than the maintenance and service she was getting from her so called specialists. Which worked out quite well. She also discovered she had a natural talent for this sort of thing. The seed was sown...